Clinton rips Trump on birther issue: 'His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie'

Hillary Clinton laced into Donald Trump on Friday morning for his years of questioning whether President Barack Obama was born in the US, saying Trump owed Obama and the American public an apology.

"We know who Donald is," she said at a campaign stop in Washington, DC. "For five years, he has led the birther movement to delegitimize our first black president. His campaign was founded on this outrageous lie."

She added: "There is no erasing it in history. Just yesterday, Trump refused to say with his own words that the president was born in the United States. Now Donald's advisers have the temerity to say he is doing the country a service by pushing these lies. No, he isn't."

While Clinton went after Trump for his role questioning whether Obama was actually born in Hawaii, the birther movement had its roots in the 2008 Democratic primary. David Plouffe, then Obama's campaign manager, said the Clinton campaign was guilty of "shameful offensive fear-mongering" by circulating a photo calling attention to Obama's African heritage.

Obama said Friday that he "never had any doubt" he was born in the US. The president added that he hoped the election will "reflect more serious issues."

The Trump campaign, which has been dogged by questions in the last few weeks over the birther issue, distributed a news release on Thursday that said Trump believed Obama was, in fact, born in the US.